[CP Story] Third Line Woes

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by Bingo

This isn't Team Canada.

I think you're getting too hung up on finding an elite equivalent to play with Gaudreau and Monahan when the truth is most team's aren't built that way in a salary cap world.

Hell even in the past teams weren't built that way. Colin Patterson was the long time winger for Mullen and Gilmour, Bossy and Trottier had a great Ferland equivalent in Clark Gillies who was big and could chip in but wasn't a true star player.

You get two guys on each of the top three lines, and then find a guy that can play with each pair and go with it.

Milan Lucic had 80 some points in his first 200 games before finding the back of the net with icetime and opportunity.

Ferland could do the same, or he could settle into a third line role. Time will tell.

Really bad example:

Gillies had 25 goals in his 20 year old rookie season (2nd on his team) playing before Trottier got there. He added 34 and 33 goal seasons (both high totals on the Islanders) before Bossy got there.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Really bad example:

Gillies had 25 goals in his 20 year old rookie season (2nd on his team) playing before Trottier got there. He added 34 and 33 goal seasons (both high totals on the Islanders) before Bossy got there.

1974-75 had him 67th in league goal scoring. It was a pretty high scoring era.

I wasn't saying he didn't have any tools, nor am I saying Ferland doesn't have any tools.

Just pointing out that you don't need to have an equivalent to play with two star players you need a compliment. Anyone watching that era would know Gillies was a complimentary piece and not carrying the line.

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by New Era

No. You don't invest a year in a guy learning to play center only to shift him to wing. The team sees him as a center, they invested a year to season him as a center, he is going to play center. To make it even more of a bad idea, he's playing his off wing, which would require another investment in learning the position.

Jankowksi-Backlund-Frolik

I see this pair as a training ground for players. I think that Jankowski has all the skill, if not more, than Tkachuk and could easily fit into the same roll on that line. My main motivation here is for Jankowski to learn from Backlund. I'm not sure Backlund is going to be here past the trade deadline, so they need to groom a replacement. What better way to groom his replacement that letting him play 30-40 games on his wing and then transition to center on the line?

So they see Bennett as a centre, so they're going to play him as a centre no matter what. Well, they obviously see Jankowski as a centre, yet you're fine with him playing wing to learn from another centre?? And let's remember, Bennett is two years younger than Jankowski!

Also, if you see Backlund gone by the deadline, then there was no point in responding to my post, because the proposed line-up was based on Backlund being there long term! You basically ignored the whole underlying rationale and just jumped to criticizing the conclusion.

Finally, this whole idea of constructing pairs instead of lines is another example of teams copying what they saw Babcock do in putting together his successful teams. It's the same thing that led to the Flames moving Brodie to the left side, even though he was more comfortable on the right. But lo-and-behold, Babcock himself is now deviating from that mold, with 3 lefties in his top 4.

Bottom line - great coaches innovate and adapt to their own line-up, they don't just copy last year's fad come what may.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

I find it interesting that people here think that Gaudreau-Monahan-Ferland is set as the top line. They are basing this on the last 30 games where the Flames played very well... Gaudreau and Monahan woke up. Gio - Hamilton were a very good pairing.

WAIT!!! Did Ricardodw finally give Hamilton a compliment???

The first time that playing with Hamilton did not make his partners play drop off significantly.

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

I find it interesting that people here think that Gaudreau-Monahan-Ferland is set as the top line. They are basing this on the last 30 games where the Flames played very well... Gaudreau and Monahan woke up. Gio - Hamilton were a very good pairing. The first time that playing with Hamilton did not make his partners play drop off significantly. Brodie was back to top form playing with Stone and Engelland.

Over the last 30 games (after the All Star game)

Elliott 17-6-1 .920 sv% 2.24 GA
Talbot 16-9-1 .917 sv% 2.40 GA

Elliott gets run out of town for a bad playoff against the Ducks after he provided as good a goal tending over a significant period since Kipper left town. He gets replaced at 50% larger cap hit for a journeyman who has not put together a stretch like that since he got his 6x5.666 deal.

Why should Ferland get a pass on his role on the top line play in the playoffs when Elliott (who played well in game #1: 2 PPG against and a 3 on 0 break away goal where he makes the first save, 38 saves in all with 3-4 highlights) gets run out of town.

It seems that an upgrade on #1RW was/is a relatively easy proposition and the upgrade on goalie turned out to be very challenging and suspect.

Oh by the By Engelland was a better defenseman last year than his replacement Hamonic. Hamonic being a -21 on a team where Siedenberg was +25, De Haan +15 and Boychuck +11.. Hamonic has a much better history but the Flames in the case of Elliott it seem to come down to what have you done for us in our last 3 games.

You hit that straw man right out of the park!

[red sky]

Bring Jagr in and change it to Third Line Whoa's!